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Tampa Bay Fishing For March 17

Tampa bay fishing report at www.captainmatt.com

Redfish and Snook galore is the best way to describe fishing this past week.  It has been very good inshore.  I know it has to be just as hot offshore as well. It’s just so good inshore I still haven’t taken the time to point the bow toward the open gulf and head offshore.

Snook fishing has been really good for me.  Not a lot of big ones but all the action you want on 20 to 28 inchers.  It has been really explosive, sometimes fast as the bait hits the water and your minnow takes off running for his life a second or two later its game on.   Snook are so much fun, definitely one of our number one sport fish.

The Red fishing is equally as good.  We’ve had many moments where everyone on-board is fighting a Red.   One may only be 20 inches while the guy next to him is tugging on a 34 inch bull Red.   It's been awesome fishing like this and makes my job a lot more fun, although it keeps me really busy pulling fish of the hooks and re-baiting.

Tampa charter fishing report at www.captainmatt.com

Trout fishing is very good for keepers right now as well.  I haven’t been catching as many giant Trout as I was a couple of weeks ago, but I have been catching plenty keepers in the 15 to 20 inch class.

Offshore, there are reports of Kingfish and a ton of Mackerel.  The Grouper and Snapper are on fire as well.

I have been seeing some Cobia on the flats and I know some are on the near shore reefs as well.  So it seems they are scattering inshore and off right now as well as on the beaches.

The water is plenty warm enough for good Permit fishing; I will probably spend sometime this week looking for them.

Tarpon are already starting to show up as singles on the beach.  We will be in full Tarpon mode by the end of April.  The resident Tarpon are also biting pretty well and should get better as we get into April.

I still have a few opening for Tarpon season available and a few dates scatter throughout April as well. I hope you have enjoyed my report, please feel free to call anytime for more info.  Also I had a cancelation for March 14^th, this Wednesday, if anyone is interested.

Good luck out on the water.

Capt. Matt

941-447-9888

www.captainmatt.com